Abstract
Purpose: :
To examine associations between clinical measures of visual function and patient-reported outcomes as assessed by both the vision-specific National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ25) and the glaucoma-specific Glaucoma Quality of Life 15 (GQL-15) in a mixed group of glaucoma patients.
Methods: :
NEI-VFQ25 and GQL-15 were self administered. Clinical measures of visual ability included LogMAR visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity (CS), stereoacuity and visual field (VF) testing with the Humphrey Field Analyzer (Carl Zeiss Meditech Inc; software version 4.2.2). To estimate the degree of binocular VF defect severity, 2 scores were generated: the average Visual Field Index (mVFI) and the binocular integrated visual field (IVF). Correlations between clinical visual measures and questionnaire responses were examined using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.
Results: :
To date, data for 44 glaucoma patients have been collected (mean age 64.4, standard deviation (SD) 13.5 years). The group mean [SD] mVFI index was 79 [10]% and IVF score was 9 [19.5].NEI VFQ composite scores were strongly associated with VF defect severity (mVFI rho = 0.61, p < 0.001; IVF rho = - 0.54, p < 0.001), worse VA and CS (VA worse eye rho = -0.37, p = 0.01; CS worse eye rho = 0.53, p < 0.001) and poorer stereoacuity (rho = -0.39, p = 0.01). GQL scores were also associated with VF defect severity, worse eye VA, worse eye CS and stereoacuity, but to a lesser extent (mVFI: rho = -0.41, p < 0.01; IVF: rho = 0.40, p < 0.01; VA worse eye = 0.37, p = 0.05; CS worse eye rho = -0.34, p=0.03; stereoacuity rho = 0.33, p = 0.03).
Conclusions: :
The perceived difficulties experienced by glaucoma patients appear to be related to many aspects of visual function. This interim analysis shows that clinical measures of visual ability are better correlated with the NEI VFQ than the GQL-15. This suggests the former may be more sensitive to the experiences reported by glaucoma patients.
Keywords: quality of life • visual fields